The Power Of Pretend Play

Before we had our second son one of the things we noticed about our oldest was his reluctance to pretend while he was playing. His autism diagnosis not long after explained why he wasn’t able to master or even care about this very important skill.

The arrival of our second son, however, changed everything. He is not autistic and is very social. He has a great imagination and wants his brother to play with him. This has been great for us because he makes his brother play and is teaching him how to use his imagination.

Dr. Kathleen Alfano, a widely-regarded expert in early childhood development says that, “Pretend Play is more than fun—it helps develop thinking and problem-solving skills and strengthens social and communication skills, as well. It lets your child “try on” endless new roles and new ways of looking at the world, which helps build empathy and imagination.”

This is important for us as we are always looking for new ways to improve our son’s social skills. Imaginative play time with his brother does this because they role play with their action figures and get dressed up and pretend to be police officers, astronauts and race car drivers.